gen-bs (Haft of the Spear)

60 Minutes discovers millennials. Cannot get over the fact that no one is addressing the importance of actual skillz across the generations (computer hacking skills, nunchuck skills …). I’ve no problem giving people with actual talent some leeway (that’s actually not a new practice) but the fact is (in any generation) the people with real skills worth catering to is woefully small. This was less a problem when those in the workforce recognized that fact and didn’t get all bent out of shape when they didn’t all get treated like demi-royalty. Work has to be arranged around your Yoga class? Maybe you should think about becoming a Yoga instructor and leave the real work to the professionals …

The consultants all claim that the world of work has to change to meet the challenge of millennials, but I question that conclusion: stuff still has to get done, things still have to get built, you can’t negotiate every task with every employee and keep up with demand … assuming you want to stay in business.

Relevance to intelligence work? Well, for starters I would submit that the last bastion of old-school work ethic is found in the related institutions, so millennials who can’t at least meet our Uncle half way are going to have a hard time. The flip side is that our Uncle can’t hope to attract much less keep the workforce of the future w/o giving up some dated and detrimental approaches to work:

You have a grade (or pay band) not a rank. If your system is truly pay-for-performance, and skills are paramount, then the idea that a “kid” who hasn’t “earned” a paycheck that is fatter than someone with 20 years on the job has to be pushed from the mental/social attic. Dues are what you pay your club.
No one is going to show up, work on the same task and at the same desk for 30 years, and retire. Flexibility in assignments without the unnecessary overhead of exchange programs has to become SOP. Your counterpart across the river wants to borrow Alice for a month and you can spare her, stop thinking he’s trying to poach her (he might be, but your saying ‘no’ will just accelerate the process). Resources being what they are, no one in a community can afford to be selfish.
This emphasis on connections and tangential interests - as much a pain in the *** as it can be - can be leveraged to the benefit of work. Think of the “I know a guy who knows a guy” network you’ve used in your own career and inject it with ‘roids.